Castleton library board receives grants for handicapped access
After a lot of time “putting cursor to laptop,” as Nancy Mark put it in a recent phone interview, the Castleton Library Board has received a federal grant of $100,000 to put toward the library’s handicapped access renovation.
The renovation includes a new lobby, bathroom and an elevator to pro-vide all visitors with access to the library’s ground floor and main floor, which is currently not possible with-out conquering some steep stairs.
“The big, wonderful news is we got this grant. We worked on it all summer and submitted it the first week of September after working on it, I want to say, night and day,” said library board chair Mark.
The grant was applied for through the town of Castleton after the Select Board gave the library board permission this past summer.
Along with the federal grant the library board has received multiple other grants and donations from other foundations to make this project become a reality.
The Friends of the Castleton Library are donating $300,000 after voting back in May 2020 to put a bequest made by the late Denise Nagle, a resident of the town and library volunteer, toward the renovation.
Mark added how thankful she is to the Friends of the Castleton Library for the donation and credits the committee for how that donation provided motivation to apply for the other grants.
The other grants include $25,000 from the Alma Gibbs Donchian Foundation and $5,000 from Hills and Hallows, which came through the Vermont Community Foundation.
Holly Hitchcock along with two law-yers took in requests to decide where the late Donchian’s money should be spent and made a decision based on where she would have given her money, too.
“This was an absolute no-brainer. Anything that would promote this library she would have been for,” said Hitchcock, who explained that Donchian was from the area and visited the library as a child.
The library board is putting aside $100,000 from its own rainy-day investment fund to make the renovation happen.
“It’s a dream. I have been here for 35 years. We’ve talked about it and then really worked at it,” librarian Jan Jones said. “For me having been here for so long it is like coming full circle,” she laughed.
Jones praised everyone in the process, including trustees, past trustees, town members and others who have put years of hard work to make this dream come true.
But Mark added that there may be more grants that need to be applied for.
“We want to improve the parking along with other small improvements to make sure we are doing this right,” said Mark.
Jones emphasized how improving parking is very important for bad-weather days.
Having parking closer to the building would allow library visitors to not have to walk the long snow-covered pathway and risk injury.
The improvements, Jones and Mark say, are aimed at making the library a place where anyone in Castleton can go and enjoy the space.
“This is wonderful for the town and validates the library’s goal for it to be the center for participation for everybody in the town,” Mark added.
